Friday, August 31, 2007

For Crown and Covenant

In my opinion the Scottish Covenanters were among the greatest heroes of the faith. Purves tells of men who would rather die than say, "God save the King." They differed from their Puritan Cousins whereas the Puritans resisted Stuart Tyranny because it trampled on the rights of English Free-men. The Covenanters resisted Stuart Tyranny because it trampled on the Crown Rights of King Jesus and his church.Purves was a mid-20th century Scotsman who wrote for Scotsmen; so a little background study before reading the book would be helpful. The theme is thus: King Charles II was restored to the English throne and sought to force the Scottish Presbyterians to prelacy and Episcopal worship. The Scots refused. Charles II made it illegal for Scottish ministers to perform their duty (I am simplifying for the sake of time). The Scots responded by worshipping outdoors. Charles thought that these "coventicles" were armed uprisings so he sent troops to quell them. The Scots out of desperation began to arm themselves for worship; that's when the story gets good. Feed your faith on stories of good courage. Here the tale of Richard Cameron--"The Lion of the Covenant"--who died praying and fighting against Christ's enemies. For a more in-depth study see John Howie's *The Scots Worthies.*

In my opinion the Scottish Covenanters were among the greatest heroes of the faith. Purves tells of men who would rather die than say, "God save the King." They differed from their Puritan Cousins whereas the Puritans resisted Stuart Tyranny because it trampled on the rights of English Free-men. The Covenanters resisted Stuart Tyranny because it trampled on the Crown Rights of King Jesus and his church.